Iraqi Forces Retake Control of Large Areas from ISIL Terrorists
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The Iraqi army and Kurdish fighters made major advances in their battle against the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) terrorist group and regained control of large areas in northern parts of the country, media reports said.
Kurdish officials said the Iraqi peshmerga forces on Sunday pushed ISIL militants out of a large area around Mount Sinjar in northern Iraq.
Kurdish authorities first announced on Friday that they had broken the ISIL siege of Mount Sinjar, where thousands of Izadis and other displaced Iraqis have been trapped since August.
The Kurdish regional president said the peshmerga might join an operation to retake the city of Mosul, the main stronghold of the ISIL in Iraq, AFP reported.
"We will take part if the Iraqi government asks us, and of course we will have our conditions," Masoud Barzani said Sunday, without specifying what these might be.
Also Press TV reported that the Iraqi army on Sunday regained control of a military base in the city of Tal Afar west of Mosul in Nineveh province.
Shiite volunteers, Sunni tribes and Kurdish Peshmerga forces backed the army in the operations that led to the liberation of the base from the ISIL’s grip.
On Friday, the Kurdish fighters had regained control of the Tal Afar Mountain from the ISIL militants.
